It's official: smart people prefer to be alone

In a study published recently by Norman P. Li and Satoshi Kanazawa, evolutionary psychologists from Singapore Management University and London School of Economics and Political Science respectively, it is suggested that while most people feel at their best when in the company of friends, smart people are happiest when they are not.

The findings relate to the 'Savannah Theory' of happiness which suggests that we react to our environment - specifically, population density and how we interact with friends - as our earliest ancestors would have, in ancient days of humankind when we lived on the savannah.

The study surveyed approximately 15,000 people between 18-28 and found that people living in more densely populated areas had lower levels of life satisfaction - which anyone who has been stuck in peak hour traffic can attest to. It also found that increased socialisation with friends had a positive impact on levels of life association in general. But, when it came to what the study described as the 'extremely intelligent' part of our population, increased socialisation was linked with decreased life satisfaction.

The researchers suggest that although during early humankind, social interaction would have been needed for survival and procreation, our modern lives require it less so. Therefore it is the individuals who are able to better adapt to a contemporary way of living who can let go of this ancestral necessity for social roots and be tied less to our evolutionary past than people who are unable to do so.

So for those who prefer weekends spent binge-watching Westworld under the covers as oposed to actual, real-life interactions, it might just be because you're a closet intellectual.

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